What does "sink" mean?
A basin used for holding water for washing.
Sink
/sɪŋk/ name, noun, verb, slang
name, noun, verb, slang ·Top 500 ·Elementary level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A basin used for holding water for washing.
- Grammar: sink is listed as name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: abase, abate, ablate, advance.
- Useful contrasts: cantilevered, geologic uplifting, supporting evidence.
- Usage evidence: The situation has come to the point where we either sink or swim.
How to use "sink"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "sink" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "sink" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "sink" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "sink" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "sink" is acting as name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "abase" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "sink", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A basin used for holding water for washing.
"Roy: The work was fiiine. There was nothing wrong with the work. But they caught him... He pissed in the sink. Jen: Oh. Oh! Roy: Yeah... Jen: Which sink? Roy: All the sinks. Yeah, he basically went on a pee parade around the house. Jen: Oh God, I have to fire him."
- 2 a covered cistern; waste water and sewage flow into it wordnet
- 3 A drain for carrying off wastewater.
- 4 plumbing fixture consisting of a water basin fixed to a wall or floor and having a drainpipe wordnet
- 5 A sinkhole.
Show 16 more definitions
- 6 a depression in the ground communicating with a subterranean passage (especially in limestone) and formed by solution or by collapse of a cavern roof wordnet
- 7 A depression in land where water collects, with no visible outlet.
- 8 (technology) a process that acts to absorb or remove energy or a substance from a system wordnet
- 9 A heat sink.
- 10 A place that absorbs resources or energy.
- 11 A habitat that cannot support a population on its own but receives the excess of individuals from some other source.
- 12 Descending motion; descent. uncountable
"An excessive sink rate at touchdown can cause the aircraft's landing gear to collapse."
- 13 Descending motion; descent.; The motion of a sinker pitch. uncountable
"Jones has a two-seamer with heavy sink."
- 14 An object or callback that captures events.
- 15 A destination vertex in a transportation network.
- 16 A node in directed graph for which all of its edges go into it; one with no outgoing edges.
- 17 An abode of degraded persons; a wretched place.
- 18 A depression in a stereotype plate.
- 19 A stage trapdoor for shifting scenery.
- 20 An excavation smaller than a shaft.
- 21 One or several systems that remove currency from the game's economy, thus controlling or preventing inflation.
Verb
- 1 To move or be moved into something.; To descend or submerge (or to cause to do so) into a liquid or similar substance. ergative, physical
"A stone sinks in water. The sun gradually sank in the west."
- 2 fall heavily or suddenly; decline markedly wordnet
- 3 To move or be moved into something.; To (directly or indirectly) cause a vessel to sink, generally by making it no longer watertight. physical, transitive
"An iceberg sank the Titanic. British battleships sank the Bismarck."
- 4 embed deeply wordnet
- 5 To move or be moved into something.; To push (something) into something. physical, transitive
"Before installing the new surfacing material, sink any protruding nails."
Show 20 more definitions
- 6 descend into or as if into some soft substance or place wordnet
- 7 To move or be moved into something.; To make by digging or delving. physical, transitive
"to sink a well in the ground"
- 8 pass into a specified state or condition; sink into wordnet
- 9 To move or be moved into something.; To pot; hit a ball into a pocket or hole. physical, transitive
"My sister beats me at pool in public a second time. I claim some dignity back by potting two of my balls before Tammy sinks the black."
- 10 fall or descend to a lower place or level wordnet
- 11 To diminish or be diminished.; To experience apprehension, disappointment, dread, or momentary depression. figuratively, intransitive
"But open converse is there none, So much the vital spirits sink To see the vacant chair, and think, ‘How good! how kind! and he is gone.’"
- 12 cause to sink wordnet
- 13 To diminish or be diminished.; To cause to decline; to depress or degrade. figuratively, transitive
"to sink one's reputation"
- 14 fall or sink heavily wordnet
- 15 To diminish or be diminished.; To demean or lower oneself; to do something below one's status, standards, or morals. intransitive
"Who would sink so low as to steal change from veterans?"
- 16 go under wordnet
- 17 To conceal and appropriate. archaic, slang, transitive
"If you are sent with ready money to buy anything at a shop, and happen at that time to be out of pocket, sink the money, and take up the goods on your master's account."
- 18 appear to move downward wordnet
- 19 To keep out of sight; to suppress; to ignore. archaic, slang, transitive
"I say not always dishonorable qualifications, but a certain flexibility of disposition; a certain courtly willingness to sink obnoxious truths, and adapt ourselves to the prejudices of the minds of others […]"
- 20 To drink (especially something alcoholic). slang, transitive
"So let's sink another drink / 'Cause it'll give me time to think"
- 21 To pay absolutely. slang, transitive
"I have sunk thousands of pounds into this project."
- 22 To reduce or extinguish by payment. archaic, slang, transitive
"to sink the national debt"
- 23 To be overwhelmed or depressed; to fail in strength. intransitive
"I think our country sinks beneath the yoke."
- 24 To die. archaic, intransitive
"However, before the entire mass was detached, a copious oozing of blood took place, when the patient lost from a pint to a pint and a half; and which, doubtless, so lowered him that he never rallied, but sank in about an hour and a half after the operation was completed."
- 25 To decrease in volume, as a river; to subside; to become diminished in volume or in apparent height. intransitive
"The Alps and Pyreneans sink before him: / Through wind and waves, and storms he works his way"
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname.
Antonyms
Example
"The situation has come to the point where we either sink or swim."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "sink"?
Common synonyms include: abase, abate, ablate, advance, age, alveolation.
How do you use "sink" in a sentence?
The situation has come to the point where we either sink or swim.
How do you pronounce "sink"?
Pronounced /sɪŋk/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English synken, from Old English sincan, from Proto-West Germanic *sinkwan, from Proto-Germanic *sinkwaną, from Proto-Indo-European *sengʷ- (“to fall, sink”). Compare West Frisian sinke, Low German sinken, Dutch zinken, German sinken, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål synke, Swedish sjunka. In the causative sense, it replaced Old English senċan (“make sink”) from Proto-Germanic *sankwijaną.
Etymology 2
From the Dutch and northern German surname, from Zink (“cornetto, trumpet-like instrument”).